11 July …
Well … the 4th is over for this year.
What a ride.
I was downtown by 0700 and did the radio net control for the run/walk. We had a bit of wind but not enough to clear the smoke. The wind was from the south and brought us smoke from the Yolo and Sacramento fires. When I got to town you were barely able to see the Mountain. 
Smoke did clear a bit later.
There were close to 5,000 participants for the run/walk this year … the Largest Small Town Event in America. There were folks from New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Canada, and DC as well as from Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Utah. Run/walk participant ages ranged from 6 to 92 (actually from 3 months if you count the baby-carriers).
I met and talked with someone who graduated from Hemet Union High School … just 40 years after I did. Go Bulldogs!
After the run/walk I helped track winners in the raffle (the big prize is a new Subaru) and then had a burger (for free) at the Masons’ booth.
Kamille had been on the night watch and held down a station during both the run/walk and the raffle. I joined her to watch the parade.
Mark and both of his sons
were in the parade.
(Sorry for the blur). They were in 4230, the Hammond Ranch Fire Department water tender.
The rest of the day was recoup time.
Join us some 4th.
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Thursday was clean up time. I hadn’t been home to do dishes in three days so you can guess what the sink looked like.
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We’re under a constant red flag warning
and Mark got called out Thursday afternoon for the Klamathon fire north of us which was declared a disaster on Friday.
I-5 was closed between Yreka and Ashland until 0600 Friday morning when the CHP began caravanning the big rigs through.
Friday morning another fire broke out down river, down in the Scott’s Bar area, but the locals weren’t called for that one. Mark got home about 1500 friday … sooty and bone tired.
Saturday morning the Klamathon had doubled in size, Hornbrook was ashes and Hilt, Henley, IronGate, and the Colestine (across the Oregon border) were in deep danger.
By sunday acreage was over 35,000 but the containment was up to 25%.
Tuesday morning the acreage was at 36,500 acres and moving north northwest into Oregon … 35 to 40% contained.
Yesterday there were fires in Montague and Klamath Falls. We’re still okay, but wary.
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Saturday was the annual Hammond Landowners Association (yes, I know the punctuation is questionable). It has been at least ten years since we attended … George and I that is.
This year the family went … all six of us.
I almost didn’t go. I thought there wouldn’t be many people there whom I knew or who remembered me. Wrong!
As it turned out I had to leave early. There were too many people who remembered George. Emotions got out of hand.
Good side was the family got to meet folks (they stayed … I had driven myself so I could leave early if I needed to), I made a step out into “society”, and the food was good.
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Paul left yesterday to spend three weeks with his Maryland grandparents. The house seems too quiet.
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Another picture of the catalpa … a better one. I got to watch a hummer feed on the nectar a couple of days ago.
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Weather is getting HOT. We’re due for hot weather advisories beginning tomorrow. I read on FaceBook that someone tried the “Turkish” way of sleeping in hot weather … i.e. under a wet towel. It reminded me of my mother telling about her childhood in Bakersfield when her mother covered the children with a damp sheet.
If it gets too hot at night, maybe I’ll try it.
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In closing …
What a beautiful thing to be able to stand tall and say “I fell apart, but I survived.”
So … ‘til next week …